Arua council defers relocation of Military Police Barracks

Arua, Uganda | THEINDEPENDENT | Arua District council has deferred a motion seeking to relocate the military police barracks from Arua city to the proposed district headquarters in Odumi, Vurra Sub County.

The decision to defer the motion was taken on Friday during the council meeting held at the district council hall.

Hope Eyokia, the female councilor representing Vurra sub county moved a motion to demand the item removed from the order paper since there was an interim court injunction restraining the council from deliberating on the matter.

According to Eyokia, discussing and relocating the military police barracks by the council will be in contravention of the law until the disposal of the main application for the temporary injunction.

Gloria Leku who seconded the motion noted that they were not involved in the process for the proposed relocation of the military police barracks.

The council proceedings took a different twist after, Luiji Candini, the Secretary for Works attempted to block the motion deferring the relocation of the military police, saying that the interim court injunction was illegally sneaked into the council meeting.

However, Cosmas Ayikobua, the leader of government business said that his office is in receipt of the court injunction and they are in the processing of seeking for advice from the solicitor general.

On Thursday, Arua High Court granted an interim injunction restraining the council from discussing, resolving and reallocating the Military police barracks from Arua City to the district pending the disposal of the main application.

The interim orders follow a civil suit against the district by Boniface Alioni, the Arua District NRM Chairperson. Alioni told URN that among other reasons he decided to drag Arua district to court due to lack of consultative decision making exhibited by the district leaders.

In March 2018, President Yoweri Museveni directed the then Minister of Lands Housing and Urban Development Betty Amongi to allocate 3.52 Hectares on Plot 2-20 Enyau road in Arua city that currently hosts the military police barracks to Taban Idro, the Managing Director of Acacia Place Limited for the construction of park hotel in Arua.

However, the construction works have not commenced due to the delayed relocation of the military police barracks from the current location.

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URN